Leah's New Blog

This week I'm showing you my latest logo and website designs!  My sister, Leah, really wanted to start another blog and her fans are so happy because she is an amazing writer!  I helped create a banner for her last blog, On Thai Time, so this time we decided to do something a little more easy going to start with.  I literally wrote out her blog title in permanent marker in my hand writing and scanned it in and edited it to become her title.  It is really fun to do a smaller project with a lot less pressure to it, maybe I will start creating more work with just my handwriting.

Read more of Leah's work over on From Bowl Cuts to Vodka Sodas.

Bobo's College Graduation Announcement

In excitement of my baby sister's college graduation, I thought I would share the graduation announcement I made for her.  She is graduating from University of Utah's Business Marketing program.  She wanted to use a photo from some time we all spent in Utah as her background, I added her name in calligraphy over the image and added some details on the front side. The back side gives all they information about the commencement and some of her future persuits.

See my other sister's graduation card here.  And more information about purchasing and designing your own card here! 

Snippets

 

 

In an effort to take a break from social media, I am focusing my energy on the every day around me and trying to better myself- make myself more whole.  Some of that includes reading, working on puzzles, bible studies, hoping to take a watercolor and photography course, more conversations and less tv, launching a new business, vacations, trying new things. I hope to post photos every now and then in an effort to remember the days that seem to fly by so fast around us.

> We traveled back to Montana to visit family this past week and I was a nervous wreak flying out of Kentucky, we even saw a UPS plane that slid off the runway... and we still took off!
> There was an epic snow storm in Lexington while we were gone and Wes was in heaven, that North Dakota dog loved it.
> I took a quick day trip to visit my cousin at my alma mater
> Saw a beautiful sunset in Big Sky Country
> The boys went hunting and I found it kind of comical watching them filet their birds on the kitchen counter
> Spent lots of time with family and all the boys wearing buffalo plaid
> We were delayed in Louisville for a couple hours waiting for my brother to get in so we decided to grab a coffee and check out Churchill Downs (aka the Kentucky Derby). We walked around the grounds and gift shop and met the sweetest hours Puddin
> Spent the weekend with my brother having a winer bon fire on our deck while they drank Kirk Light with clean snow as ice- real classy over here.

Artful Venture Collaboration and Interview

I had the pleasure of collaborating with Artful Venture, an online boutique that specializes in selling products that were created by by artists around the globe. They partner with Arte del Mundo to encourage creativity in youth and donated part of their proceeds to the organization, you can read more about them here.

I partnered with them to paint their logo in calligraphy on a piece of wood they could use in their pop-up shops and product photos.  They wrote a nice little piece about me and my creative process over on their blog, check it out! 

#AMEinreallife Mightier Print

It is always so fun to see my work in it's home it was intended to be or bought for.  The original person I designed the 'mightier print' for was Scott's cousin.  She was going to use it in her son's big-boy room which is nautical themed.  Since we got a chance to go to Charleston and visit them, I finally got to see my work in it's home! So flattering!

The print is one of my best sellers and is available for purchase here in my shop.

Thanks for looking! -Amy

Great Is Thy Faithfulness Hymn in Calligraphy

My sister in law is seriously one of the most patient people.  She had asked me to calligraphy out one of her favorite hymns that help her get through a difficult time in her life to frame in her new baby's nursery.  Well at the time of her asking me, we were about to embark on our month long road trip and move states and buy a house and blah blah blah and I just didn't get it done till the fall of last year.  It took me awhile to get back into the calligraphy mode but was oh so happy to and love how everything came together.  Note: I do realize that 'faithfulness' is spelled wrong (insert frustrated emjoi here) but we decided to leave it and she loves it anyways.

Below is a photo of how she framed it and displays it in my new nephew's room.

My Mom's Christmas Card 2014

I helped design my mom's Christmas Card this year and love that they had a recent picture to put on there.  My favorite part was my mom's idea, on the back, to put 'Joy Love Peace' on the back and stagger it so it looks like a Christmas tree with a little snowflake at the top. I think that even the back of the card could make a perfect front of the card next year of us!  The calligraphy on the front of the card was done by me and actually the same thing I used on our card this year.  

See our 2013 and 2012 cards here.

Thanks for looking! -Amy 

My Week with No Added Sugar

I am writing this for my own sake to look back on, but I also decided to make it public because I was searching for something similar to this a couple weeks ago when I tried to plan out my week without sugar. I decided to do a week without sugar for a couple of reasons: I have never done anything like this before and thought it would be a good challenge and because I ate way.too.many cookies in the month of December. I had never done an extended diet, cleanse or work out regimen and wanted to prove to myself that I could do something healthy for myself. I tried to research different meal ideas that I could eat for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack and Drinks and pre grocery shop as much as possible.

My goal was simply to not consume anything that has sugar or some form of sugar (anything ending in -ose) or a sugar substitute in the ingredients panel of foods. If the food naturally contained sugar (like fruits) then it was ok. I also inadvertently gave up breads and pastas for the week too.

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Monday: This is my first day of no sugar and I had to work. I was craving sugar and felt a little crazy that I couldn't have it. Everywhere I looked I wanted to eat whatever it was. I thought I didn't eat that much sugar but Monday was a huge wake up call.  I also had small pep talks with myself about how it is ok to be hungry, and that I have plenty of back up fuel in my body to sustain myself.

Tuesday: I was also craving breads or candies but I also felt like I was crashing too. I worked and had to cut bread for a sample (!) and make cinnamon swirl pancakes and just casually wanted to stop myself form popping a bite in my mouth. I didn't realize how much 'trying something' was part of my reflexes.

Wednesday: Today was okay. I was hungry but sustained myself during the day and was pretty proud. I didn't have the crash feeling like Monday and Tuesday. I did have to go grocery shopping, and even though I normally love grocery shopping, that was one of the hardest things I had to do all week. I found myself almost reflexly adding things to my cart that a. I didn't need and b. sounded good (cinnamon rolls, flavored yogurts, chewy granola bars). Everything went back on the shelf except for the granola bars, those I bought for Scott... and for when I am done with this whole thing. I also bought some popcorn to help fill the void between snack and a meal.

Thursday: I didn't plan dinner and had to try and figure out something for Scott and I on the fly. We also had to make a last minute run to Lowes before they closed and that was the only hour we got to spend together.  So as Scott is ordering something from Sonic, I am trying frantically to search their nutritional information for anything without sugar (or a sugar substitute) and came up with a Jr. Breakfast wrap and French Fries. I ate about half of both and realized how stupid I was and that both of those really did have sugar without listing them... I should have been smarter. I instantly got a stomach ache and was so frustrated with myself but then decided to be nicer to myself and say 'this is your first week ever doing something like this, its ok'.

Friday: I had a big breakfast and was stumped for dinner again. This time I was alone for dinner and really really wanted something warm but was too lazy to make it. It is right around 20 degrees outside and I just wanted to eat something without looking at a label. A friend came over, and we brainstormed dinner ideas and when she left, I made a potato soup type of meal. I mashed up potatoes and mixed with a bit of vegetable broth, butter, garlic, steamed broccoli, rotisserie chicken and some cheese. It was actually good. I also ate a banana and some apple sauce. Today, I also started dreaming about what my first food with sugar was going to be... chocolate chip cookies? Bagel? Mmmm....

Saturday and Sunday: Scott was around for these days and they weren't nearly as bad.  I did go to the grocery store and buy ingredients to make cookies for Monday but I had some good dinners planned. On Saturday, we ate curry with left over rice from earlier in the week and Sunday I made Chicken Tortilla Soup. We also did go to a friends house to watch the football game on Sunday and I brought this sauce (which is so good by the way) and ate it with some tortilla ships, hummus and vegetables.

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Some meal ideas I had on hand were...
Breakfast ideas:
Oatmeal with fresh fruits (raspberries, bananas, blackberries) and/or applesauce and cinnamon (the photo above)
Greek yogurt with fresh fruits
Egg scramble with zucchini, sweet potato or white potato + Ezekial Bread

Lunch ideas:
Rotisserie chicken
Tuna
Salad (I just haven't been into salads lately-- I have to change that)
Really, I just ate breakfast late so I kind of just snacked for lunch

Snack ideas:
Carrots and hummus (I ate a lot of this!)
Banana
Apple
Popcorn

Drink ideas:
Chai tea with splash of milk
Peppermint tea
Green tea with or without lemon
La Croix

Dinner ideas:
Mexican Stir Fry (butternut squash or sweet potato, corn, black beans, rotisserie chicken) with lime-cilantro brown rice, some cheese and avocado over chopped spinach and some salsa. I served Scott's in a burrito
Potato 'Soup': mashed potato with garlic, salt and pepper, vegetable broth, steamed broccoli, rotisserie chicken and cheese
Meatball Sandwiches: I made a homemade red sauce and cooked some meatballs from Trader Joes in the sauce. Then I served Scott's on ciabatta bread with fresh mozzarella and served mine over zucchini noodles with mozzarella.
Chicken Tortilla Soup: I will have to post about this recipe soon because it is so good and easy to make.
Curry: with vegetables, and rice noodles.
*I realize that there are so many other things to eat then what I put, these are just foods I naturally gravitate toward and usually have on hand so I made a list of what I could find in my home

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All in all, I think I did pretty good. I had some slip ups like Sonic on Wednesday and some spices that I learned had sugar in them that I used once or twice. I realize this round wasn't perfect but it wasn't meant to be- it was meant to be a learning exercise in discipline and educating myself about what foods I bring in my home and I learned a lot.

I learned that it is so easy, almost too easy, to reach for something with added sugar rather than a whole food when eating.  I also learned that planning for success is key- which is a goal of mine for this year: I would like to do more meal planning. I did also learn that my body, in some way, has become dependent on sugar and that is a bit scary to me. I hope to complete one of these weeks every six months to try and restart and actually listen to my body a bit more. It is interesting what your body tells you when you don't give in right away to what it is asking.

My first thing with added sugar after... my chia tea lattes that I just love in the mornings. I use the 'Spiced Chai' tea bag from Trader Joes and brew that with hot water.  Then, I discard the tea bag and add a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of milk.  Seriously soo good.

Our Christmas Card 2014

I thought I would share a bit about our Christmas cards this last year. We make cards every year (see 2011, 2012 and 2013 here) but this is the first year since we were married we had some professional pictures taken.  All the photos were taken by Kate at Birch and Pine.  It was fun to have Wesley in these photos and have our new life in Kentucky documented.  The photo above is the one we chose for the front of our card, all I asked to include was something about Kentucky. This fence above is an old horse fence which are literally all over the city... Lexington is the 'Horse Capital of the World'. Below is a clip of what we put on the back of the card and I also included some more of our favorite photos from the shoot below too.

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Watercolor Calligraphy Thank You Cards

Another one of those, I should have thought of that sooner items I just listed in my shop.  My sister called me one day and said she had been shopping and looking for some thank you cards and couldn't find any that she loved so she asked me to make her some. I immediately said yes and we got to work designing a bunch of different colors and ideas for cards. 

She decided on wanting the card to say 'Thank You' instead of 'Thanks' but I think they both look so great that I thought I would include them both.  Right now I am selling the cards individually, but if anyone was interested, I could sell them in sets.  I also can offer custom colors if you don't love the swatches (and I also have some colors that aren't shown!)- jus send me an email or message.

If you wanted your own set of cards or even just one, head over to my shop and let me know which one! Thanks for looking!

Follow Your Heart

I finally got around to adding the finishing touches to a personal project I have been working on.  When I was making the watercolor calligraphy cards for A Color Workshop, I was testing some watercolor ideas and originally didn't like these swatches together...  I said they looked "too shorbet-y".  As I went along working and listening to the Bon Iver pandora station, a song came on that kept repeating follow your heart and could not help but smile because not only was I following my heart by painting and calligraphing for a great friend but that quote means so much to me and would look perfect on my watercolor outtake.  I'm so happy with how it turned out and plan on framing it soon and hanging in my office to always remind myself. 

Photo from my instagram. #amedetails

I Painted Calligraphy on a Pallet!

When we were visiting friends a couple weeks ago in Minneapolis, our friend Hannah had a pallet that she painted white and had an idea to paint a bible verse on it.  After deciding what would look best, we decided on John 16:33 painted in calligraphy in the center.  Then when she gets the chance, she can cut down the pallet so it is a more manageable size to hang on her walls or above a bed.  I just love how it turned out and am so proud of it! By far my largest scale calligraphy painting project yet.

I was pretty proud that I got it all done in an afternoon/ evening basically while they were prepping food for homemade sushi and then afterwards cleaning up.  Ha! that night we accidentally made 17 rolls.  They tasted so good and were so fun to make that we couldn't stop stuffing and rolling.

Top photos by Scott.

Bottom photo from my instagram. #amedetails

Knitted Baby Sweater

One of Scott's cousins just had a baby girl and I had asked what she would like or need.  Her only request was something homemade.  I was so happy!  I had found this baby sweater pattern online and knew it would be perfect.  Since she was born in February, I decided to make the sweater for next fall/winter so she could get a little more use out of it then just for a month this winter/spring.  

The pattern is the Wyatt pattern on Ravelry and I could not recommend it enough.  This was my first time every knitting a piece of clothing or anything for a baby before and only had to restart about twice.  The pattern was very easy to follow and very very easy to make adjustments to if you needed to.  For example, why I love this pattern so much is not only is it unisex you could add rows in the chest area to make it longer and a dress for a little girl rather than a sweater.  They also recommend holding it up to your babe as you are knitting to get the length and arms right.  I decided to make it in a white super wash wool, or how the lady at the knitting store called it "mama friendly yarn", so that it is washable and won't shrink.  I figured that was a must when making baby clothing.  Also, she could possible use it again for another child later on.  I would highly recommend making one! Just took me a couple weeks off and on to make.

2013 Year In Review

This has been such a fun year for me. Over the past year I have seriously developed my skills and business into something that has been even surprising and exciting for me. Remember when I just recently posted about my Christmas cards and snuck in an example of my cards from 2013? Well, that card is the one that set off my business. A friend of my sister saw that card and asked me to help design her wedding invitations. Wow! such trust and encouragement she had in me and for that I am so grateful to her! Shortly after that, another friend asked me for a stamp design (which she wanted me to hand carve) but I had a better idea! I would try calligraphing it and have it made onto a stamp and that set off my most popular item this year. Those people near me who believe in me to help create something for them before I even believed that I could are some of the most important and treasured people to me. Now, my mind has bigger dreams and goals and I am a lot less scared then I was this time last year.  Here is some of my most proud work and my round up for 2013! (top photo from the first invitation I designed- it is amazing to see how my work has developed over the year)

The stamps were my most popular item this year and probably one of the most fun things to design.  I have had such an amazing time working with all my clients come up with something that they will love and most likely keep as heirlooms.  All of the stamps are made out of laser carved rubber and attached to a piece of wood that is engraved with the design on the top.  They also have an option for wooden handles which I think is the best part!  That stamp there in the lower right was the very first stamp I designed and am so grateful to that good friend of mine to ask for it.  You can see a feed of the stamp posts here. 

Earlier last year, I had a goal to calligraphy something every week to help practice and produce work.  I got a few quotes done but I will say it was all still a success and plan to calligraphy some more quotes through this year.  I did a quote my dad always says (pictured above); one from another favorite blogger, Meg Fee, who writes some of the most touching posts; and a lyric from a song my dad always used to sing me when I was young.  Here is the feed for a couple quotes I did.

I also got to design a bunch of cards and invitations.  Like I was saying above,  my first invitation suite to set everything going was Camille's (upper row on the right).  It was such a pleasure to work with her.  I learned so much and will forever be grateful for her believing in me.  Some of the other designs I did were: Brittany's Christmas Cards, Hadley's 1st Birthday Invitation, Our Christmas Cards, Randi and Michael's Wedding Invitation Suite (including two inserts), Camille's Wedding Invitation Suite (including three inserts, a program and a thank your card), Erin and Chris' Wedding Invitation Suite (included 5 inserts- one of which was a map!), Breanne's Bridal Shower Invitation, Leah's College Graduation Announcements and Lauren's Baby Shower Invitation.  Not pictured is Elise's Christmas Card.

One of my most proud projects was being approached to design a logo for a photographer (Jennifer Wanicki Photography).  I also designed a logo for my other shop that sells antlers (AME Antlers) and helped my sister redesign her hilarious blog, On Thai Time.

Speaking of good friends who believe in me... My friend Elise asked me to help design a couple signs for her wedding. Some of the big projects I did were a welcome seating sign (pictured above), a photo booth sign and my most proud was the cocktail sign.  I also worked on some smaller projects and more personal signs that were displayed throughout the wedding. 
Towards the end of the year, I started working on painted calligraphy chalkboards.  I was inspired by a gift we got when we were married almost three years ago.  I thought it would be a nice wedding gift to offer our family and friends that was personal and useful for them while also helping me practice my calligraphy in a different medium.  Those three gifts set off a chain reaction and by December I had 5 additional orders! It was so great! The first couple, I blogged about here. The last few I just finished up blogging about here. One of my favorite boards was the initial wreath I painted here.

Another fun project toward the end of the year was collaborating with Ally from Gifts By Allyson. She specializes in carved wood pieces and is able to transfer my calligraphy onto beautiful wood piece.  We made pieces for Christmas, gifts for friends and even pieces to be displayed at a wedding.

I also finally attempted calligraphy envelope design!  I have been so intimidated by it (and truthfully still am a bit) but decided to dive head first in and write out all of our friend's and family's last names on the envelopes that held our Christmas cards.  I plan to still play around with more envelopes because really they are so fun!

On a personal note, Scott and I had a great year also! We had family visit early in the year, took Wesley on his first bike ride,  took a huge road trip over the summer, did some modeling for Flora Pop!, taught Wesley to pray before his meals, made the best batch of chili over Halloween,  froze our butts off this winter, and lots of other fun things you can check out here. 

Overall this year has been so fun and inspiring. I have learned that there is no better time to start then now. Even though it is hard without a lot of emotional support, I learned that you have to believe in yourself and just go for it. Make the call, reach out, put it out there and you will learn what people are drawn to. The quote "You are going to wish a year from now you started today" couldn't ring more true to me and I am so happy that I started this journey. I do see everything developing and changing a lot over the next year, I mean it is so fun to see just where my work has come in one year.  I am so thankful you have joined me here in this space and followed along with me. Thank you! Thank you! 

Stay tuned! Because I have BIG news coming.  Like a couple more stamp designs, a giveaway and a new website and portfolio to reveal within a couple weeks. 

On Thai Time Site Design

Want to know the blog I check most often for updates? On Thai Time.  My sister started a blog about her adventures of teaching English in Thailand and it is some of the funniest written stories accompanied with some of the most beautiful photos.  If you are looking for a laugh, head over there and read some of her work.  She is pretty amazing writer and the coolest thing is that her writing comes across exactly like she talks... I think that is part of the reason we all love it so much because we miss her so much.

Why am I posting about it here? Well, I am pretty proud of the little bit of redesign I helped her with.  All of the web designing I have learned I taught myself through hours of online research and reading countless blogs and forums. Before I got my hands on it, her blog was a pretty standard blogger site.  I adjusted the width of the columns, added an about page, updated her sidebar with a centered photo and 'about me' link, added those social media buttons below her picture and helped center her title.  She still wants to change the title but we are having a hard time deciding on what that should be... hopefully we will get there soon.

So head over there to read her stories! I promise you won't be disappointed and she sure would love it! 

Antler Bobby Pins

When I went home for Thanksgiving, I came bearing gifts.  I found some inspiration on pinterest and decided to make a couple pairs of antlers for my sisters and cousin and I.  They were so fun and easy to make and we had a great time sporting them.I shaped all the pins out of black oven clay and cooked them as directed.  I then sprayed them all with gold spray paint, added gold glitter to the ends and glued on a bobby pin with some tacky glue. So fun and festive for the holidays.

Calligraphy Envelopes

I decided to try my hand at adding calligraphy to the envelopes of our Christmas cards.  It was an effort that allowed me to practice envelope design as well as get the word out there that I love calligraphy. I knew going into this that it was going to be a HUGE project they wouldn't be perfect, I mean I had never addressed cards in calligraphy before and had no idea what I was doing, but will say I am one step closer to being a little more comfortable with the whole process.

I decided to just accent our friend's and family's last name and write in the rest of the address by hand.  I found that there is a certain type of nib that I preferred (Nikko G) and found there is a huge difference in quality of paper envelopes and ink that flows and works best for my project (I preferred Windsor and Newton Ink over Higgins).

For reference, I sent out 80 envelopes and had about a 50% rate of success... meaning that I had about 40 or so envelopes that didn't turn out.  I found in the beginning I was writing the last names starting with 'A' or 'B' quite a few times (like 6 or 7 times over).   I did get much more confident and comfortable towards the end of the alphabet and didn't need to rewrite them almost ever.  I do know that I need more practice with keeping an even flow and perfecting my up and down strokes (it takes lots of patience and is almost like learning how to write again), but I am happy that I took on this project and look forward to more like it!

What do you think of them?? If you are interested in some calligraphy for your event please contact me either through my etsy shop or via email. Thanks!

Our Christmas Cards 2013 (and 2012)

I really love how our christmas cards turned out this year.  The way my calligraphy matched up perfectly with the light leak of the camera.  This photo was taken back when we were in Montana, at the end of our summer vacation on my favorite hike to Woodbine Falls. The hike is so easy and quick and has the most beautiful views.  I decided to match our cards with a simple calligraphy envelope.  Envelope calligraphy and design is extremely more difficult then you would think but I will write about my very small experience with it soon. If you are interested, this is what our Christmas cards looked like last year, it is pretty amazing to see where I have come in a year and will write about my first year in calligraphy and design in an upcoming post. This card is what started it all.Thanks for looking! If you are looking for something for yourself or an event, check my listing here in my Etsy shop or send me an email!